In an increasingly networked world, more and more traffic, such as data, voice, and video, is transmitted over public and proprietary networks. Wireless networks, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular as networks through which subscribers obtain both voice services (e.g., telephone calls) and data services (e.g., email and web surfing).
One class of mobile wireless devices, such as smart phones and tablet (e.g., “pad”) computing devices, may include mobile communication devices that are designed to provide additional functionality, such as the ability to execute a variety of general purpose computing applications. Video-related services, in particular, may be provided through these devices.
When providing content, such as video content, over a wireless network, it may be important to intelligently deliver the content to the mobile devices to limit strain on the wireless network. One known technique of delivering content is known as multicast broadcasts, in which a single channel may be used to broadcast content to multiple mobile devices. In contrast, with a unicast transmission, content transmitted to multiple mobile devices may require multiple channels that are each dedicated to a single mobile device.
With unicast, the signal strength of the radio interface between the mobile device and the base station, to which the mobile device is attached, may be directly measured by the mobile device and the base station. Mobile devices may provide a visual indication (e.g., an icon that displays a number of bars) that indicates the signal strength. A user may use the visual indication to quickly determine the current quality of the radio connection of the mobile device.